


Cutting Room Floor

by katnissdoesnotfollowback (lost_on_cloud_9)



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Future takes, Language, Missing Scenes, Outtakes, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-08-21 07:54:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16572659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_on_cloud_9/pseuds/katnissdoesnotfollowback
Summary: A collection of outtakes, future takes, or expansion scenes from a number of my multi-chapter fics. Chapter 1 serves as a table of contents with descriptions, ratings, and warnings. All pieces are Everlark unless otherwise noted Ratings vary from K to E, please see chapter 1 for more info.Currently contains scenes from:Come On Baby, Light My FireLeading SuspectsPureWrapped in RedMore to be added soon.





	1. Table of Contents

  1. **_TABLE OF CONTENTS:_**



 

To make it a little easier to find what you’re looking for, I’m using the first chapter as a table of contents. If something is listed here in the Table of Contents but not yet posted, it will be uploaded within the next few days. Trying not to overwhelm your inboxes. ;-)

 

All pieces contained within this work are Everlark unless otherwise noted. All pieces are outtakes, expansion scenes, or futturtakes from one of my multi-chapter fics. Summaries, ratings, warnings, story it belongs to, and word counts are included in all descriptions.

 

Thanks for reading! <KDNFB

 

* * *

 

  1. **_Druxy_**



From _Come On Baby, Light My Fire,_ written in response to an Anon wanting to know what happened to Gale after all that jealousy and futile attempts at marking Katniss as his territory. Gale/Leevy action. Warning...this doesn’t end with rainbows and happy kisses for Gale. _2,032 Words. Written June 2017_ . **WARNINGS:** RATED M _,_ sexual content and language

 

  1. **_Arresting Officer_**



From _Leading Suspects,_ several months after the epilogue, Katniss has a Halloween surprise for Peeta. _2,022 Words. Written October 2017_ . **WARNINGS:** RATED E, for sexual content and language

 

  1. **_Both_**



From _Pure_ , set about a year after the final chapter, inspired by a post on tumblr about waking up in a hospital with the person you love next to you and just knowing they’ve been there awhile and can’t leave you. _2,352 Words. Written October 2017._ **WARNINGS:** RATED M for sexual content and language

 

  1. **_Autolatry_**



From  _ Come On Baby, Light My Fire _ , written using the last word hanging out in my tumblr inbox that never got used. Autolatry: the worship of one’s self. Summary: Peeta comes home early to an unexpected surprise.  _ 1,989 Words. Written October 2018.  _ **WARNINGS:** RATED E for explicit sexual content, explicit language

  1. **_Catnip Nocturne_**



From  _ Wrapped in Red _ , set between chapters 26 and 27. It’ Halloween and Katniss has a great way to keep Peeta’s mind off of Karina’s first Trick-or-Treat without adult supervision.  _ 5,601 Words. Written October 2018.  _ **WARNINGS:** RATED E for explicit sexual content, explicit language and... _ naughty _ socks. ;)


	2. Druxy: Come on Baby, Light My Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Come On Baby, Light My Fire, written in response to an Anon wanting to know what happened to Gale after all that jealousy and futile attempts at marking Katniss as his territory. Gale/Leevy action. Warning...this doesn’t end with rainbows and happy kisses for Gale. 2,032 Words. Written June 2017. WARNINGS: RATED M, sexual content and language

**_Druxy_ ** _ \- Something which looks good on the outside, but is actually rotten inside _

* * *

 

He manages to make it the entire Thanksgiving weekend without thinking about her too much. He’d forgotten how much work all the kids could be, although technically Vick is an adult now. In the madness of the holiday, he slips up and thinks about her three times. The first is when the bird comes out of the oven and his entire family can’t stop talking about how sweet it was of Katniss to share or wishing that she had at least been in town. Ignoring her asinine suggestion that she return here, Gale reminds them that if they move to the city, they’ll be able to see her more often. Before he can worry about it too much, he changes the subject to whatever nonfiction book Rory can’t seem to peel himself away from and that does the trick.

The second time he slips is when he’s in his room, staring at faded hunting gear posters he decorated his childhood room with. He can’t believe his mother hasn’t flipped this room into a sewing area or guest room or anything like that. Maybe she needs some more money. He sighs as he thinks about what he could sacrifice to get it to her. Maybe his Friday nights at the bar with the guys from work. Yeah, that’d get him at least twenty extra bucks a week. They might not understand his desertion, though. Katniss would. And just like that, he’s thinking of her again. Only something about the darkness leads his thoughts down impure paths and before he knows it, he’s thinking about her autumn cool and chapped lips under his and wondering what he could do to warm them and then his hand is on his cock and he’s picturing her naked and clinging to him. After he comes, he wonders what the fuck her neighbor’s got that snared her attentions, at least for a little while.

The third time is when he’s tossing his bag into his truck and his mother gives him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“You’ve been unusually quiet this trip,” she says and he waves over her shoulder at Rory and Posy making goofy faces at him in the window. He wants to shake his head and remind Rory that he’s seventeen now. Only Gale never had the luxury of acting like he was actually seventeen, so he keeps his mouth shut.

“I was rather hoping to hear some news about you and a special someone,” his mother keeps talking and there she is in his thoughts again.

“I may have messed it up,” he admits to his mother.

“Hmm,” she says and pats his cheek for a second. “Then you should fix it. Not worth losing a years long friendship, is it?”

“I gotta go, Ma,” he says and turns away before she can chastise him anymore.

“Call when you get there?”

“Yeah,” he agrees and shuts his door, drowning out his doubts with the roar of the engine. As he drives, thoughts of her become more prominent. Because he’s mulled it over in his head a million times. He’s not sure he can be a friend without wanting her love and her attention. He’s given her space because that seemed to be what she wanted. He was giving her space before he kissed her, before that neighbor...Peeta...wandered into her life, hoping she’d come around and see what they could have. As her closest friend, though, he knows how much she fears connection and detests affection. In an effort to give her time, he may have waited too long.

* * *

 

Act like nothing happened, he pumps himself up with the words and then sends the message to Katniss, asking if they’re on for hunting on Sunday. They haven’t spoken in two weeks. A lot can happen in two weeks, and he’s hoping that if nothing else, she’s ready to be friends again. 

He tries to be patient, watches a football game on TV although he couldn’t tell you the teams or the final score, nurses a beer. It’s almost dinner and still no answer so he decides to prod her. Usually, she’d be quick to answer, and even though he knows she might be avoiding him, he still doesn’t regret kissing her.

_ Did you get my message? Reception’s kinda screwy on this side of town today. _

Maybe he should’ve pushed harder sooner. He thinks about going and buying her flowers, although she’s never been the hot-house blooms kind of girl. He imagines she’d prefer wild flowers and there’s not much chance of finding any of those in the city at this time of year. Or dinner. Yeah, he should’ve taken her to dinner. But how do you romance someone who can’t stand romance?

Her answer startles him with it’s whistling alert and he scowls as he stares at the words, trying to decipher a deeper meaning in them.

_ You wanna grab some coffee in an hour so we can talk? _

Talk. That can go one of two ways, and given the length of their silence and the fact that he initiated contact this time, he’s guessing it’s not meant the way he wants it to be meant.

_ No thanks. I know a rejection when I see one. _

_ You’re not being fair, Gale. _

_ Fair? Catnip, we’ve been friends for years. How long have you known him? _

It’s probably the second beer talking, he tells himself as he cringes inwardly at the words. Still, he’ll stand by them. Whatever was between them, she should be over it by now. She said he was out of the picture.

_ Long enough,  _ the answer finally comes in and he paces the living room, refusing to respond to that load of crap. 

He needs a distraction, so he grabs his keys and walks down the street to his favorite local bar. He sits next to a group of women clearly out for a night of relaxation and orders a beer. At one point, he catches the one with dark hair staring at him. For a moment he thinks he recognizes her, but he dismisses it as a trick of the light and the fact that her hair is the same color and her figure is similar to Katniss’. He presses his lips together in a psuedo smile and nods. Apparently, she takes this as an invitation because she leans towards him and whispers coyly.

“You seem a little familiar,” she has to shout over the loud music, the volume of her speech erasing any flirtatious inflections like the ones he sees in her gaze as she looks him over. He balks a little but doesn’t want to be rude. After three more beers and learning that her name is Leevy and she teaches physics at D12 high school, he loosens up a little and welcomes her advances. It’s nice to feel desired and not pitied.

By the time she mentions that she thinks he’s hot, he barely cares that she’s Katniss’ coworker. He’s half hard from imaging the lips that round perfectly over the neck of her beer bottle swallowing his cock. He leans over to nibble on her ear and whisper that she’s fucking hot and he wants to show her a  _ really  _ good time.  Leevy sucks in a sharp breath and her nails dig into his arm. For a moment, he thinks he’s blown it, but then she stands and tells her friends she’ll see them in the morning.

It’s all a blur of limbs and loud groans with the faint scent of gardenia that seems to emanate from her sheets. Her head thrashes back and forth as she comes but he’s seeing double or something and can’t get there until he flips her over and pounds into her from behind with her braid wrapped around his fist.

When his body wakes itself at four in the morning with a headache, he grabs his phone to use the flashlight to find his way around the unfamiliar apartment. Before he can, he notices a message from Katniss that came in around nine last night, while he was flirting with Leevy.

_ I don’t want to lose you over this. _

_ I’m not going anywhere _ , he types out, but Leevy rolls over in bed and sighs.

“Come here and let me suck that fat cock,” she says sleepily. He’s still holding his phone gripped in his hand along with some of the gardenia scented sheets when Leevy pulls her mouth off of him and flops to the side. When he's’ done spurting all over his chest, she’s already snoring softly.

His legs shake as he stumbles into the kitchen and gulps down some water. He thinks about leaving, heading over to Katniss’ right now to demand some kind of answer, but it’s four in the morning and she might be asleep. Still, he asks her something he  _ needs  _ to know _. _

_ If you hadn't met him...where would we be right now? _

He uses the bathroom and freshens up a little. To his surprise, a text comes in from Katniss as he’s about to grab his clothes off the floor.

_ Hunting in the woods. Like always. _

Gale tosses the phone on the bedside table and climbs back into the bed naked. He might as well get one more round out of Leevy in the morning.

* * *

 

They agree that they should probably go on a date. Something official, although Gale doesn’t much feel like coming up with anything other than what they usually do. In the end, it’s Leevy who comes up with the idea to spend the evening at the Christmas market held every year in District Two. Even though he works in this part of the city, he’s never been.

As they walk the aisles, Leevy makes a half-hearted attempt at conversation while they both pretend to be shopping for presents and hold back what they already know. Hot fucking does not beget love. He’s trying to come up with a polite way to break up with her while she leans over a display of glass blown ornaments and comments on them.

His thoughts are halted when he sees Katniss a couple booths away. She’s smiling and fingering a bright green scarf. Peeta stands beside her with a matching smile. He says something to her and she laughs. As he hands over a couple of bills to the vendor, Katniss takes the scarf and wraps it around Peeta’s neck, using it to pull his head down to hers. Their lips meet in a brief kiss, but when they part, their faces remain close together as they whisper for a moment before moving on, Katniss playing with the tails of the green scarf that’s still around Peeta’s neck, his arm holding her close to his side.

She kissed him in the middle of a crowded Christmas fair and Gale feels as though someone just punched him in the gut.

For the rest of the night, his thoughts are on that kiss. Which surely explains how he winds up fucking Leevy from behind on the bench seat of his truck, her bare breasts pressed against the cold glass, her braid swinging over her shoulder blades with each rough thrust, and his teeth cutting into his lip to keep from shouting Katniss’ name as he pulls out and shoots his load over Leevy’s back.

* * *

 

“Katniss is getting married in the spring,” his mother says nonchalantly as she shuts the last dresser drawer, having finally finished unpacking her own things into the four bedroom condominium he managed to find them just a few short blocks away from the District 3 high school. It took longer than he’d have liked to get them moved out of Seam, but he’s finally managed to provide his family with the best starts possible. He wipes sweat from his brow and silently curses the late August heat while his mother eyes him speculatively before stepping around him. “I’ll go work on the kitchen for a bit then.”

He waits for the kick of regret or pain. It doesn’t come this time. He figures that’s progress.


	3. Arresting Officer: Leading Suspects

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From "Leading Suspects," several months after the epilogue, Katniss has a Halloween surprise for Peeta.

“Happy Halloween!” the Perkins kids call out as they skip away with the last of my candy. I wave and return the sentiment, waiting an appropriate amount of time to make sure they safely cross the street to their own house before I shut the door and turn off the porch light. Moving through the house, I tidy each room, turn off all the lights, and work myself into a weird state of aroused anxiety.

I’ve got a treat to prepare.

At least I hope he thinks it’s a treat.

Maybe it’s too cliché. I’ve never done anything like this before, but Peeta’s always leaving me small surprises. A wildflower in a glass of water to signal that spring has arrived and the mountains are bedecked in all her finery. An impromptu evening picnic on our cliffside spot. A note tucked under Theo to make me blush or laugh. While I love that he does these small things, I struggle in reciprocating them most of the time, rejecting every idea I come up with as not enough or too silly. Until this one grabbed my interest and wouldn't let go.

A dirty dream spurred this crazy stunt into reality and now I’m seriously doubting it. What if he thinks it’s tawdry or slutty? What if he  _ hates  _ it? He’s always made it clear that he wants us to be honest and real with each other, and here I am planning to dress up as something I’m not for him. Oh my god, I should never have planned this. I’ll just burn the evidence and then Peeta will never know just how close I came to humiliating myself in front of him. It’s not like me burning evidence is something he’s unfamiliar with, so at least there’s that.

In the bedroom, I open my closet and reach into the back and pull out the half-dozen sewn-together scraps of fabric hiding in there that Delly called an “instant erection.” I laugh a little, remembering her bemused face when I started asking questions about sewing machines and clothing alterations. I thought I could handle it since I’m not useless with sewing. Fixing buttons, patching clothes, repairing ripped seams – all things I can manage with no problem. But a few hours into my project, I realized there was an entire skill set I was lacking to pull this off and I needed help. Of course, Delly had smiled wide and offered hands-on help instead of attempting to talk me through it after hearing my vague answers and explanations when she’d asked for specifics to guide her advice.

She’s so genuinely nice that I caved after I reached a point when I was certain I’d ruined everything. Turns out that excessive niceness isn’t an act. Ten minutes after I showed her what I was working on, I knew I wouldn’t regret it.

Delly’s a whiz with needle and thread. Tightening here, tailoring there, adding small touches of leather and lace that turned my $30 online find into an exquisite piece of custom-made “fuck me now” seduction.

The wine we drank that night helped loosen tongues and worries, and we bonded over how we used to be the two girls in town who received side glances and prim sniffs on Sundays since until recently, we were both living in sin and haven’t been to church since…well since our mothers made us go as kids. I insist that the ladies of Twelve Willows are just jealous. Hot deputy for her. Hotter sheriff for me – no, I am not biased at all. Lots of good sex. They all just wish they were us. Now I count Delly as one of my closest friends in Twelve Willows. Who’d have thought?

The memories of that night restore my resolve a little. I leave the costume on the bed and wander into the kitchen, pouring myself a few sips of chardonnay left over from dinner last night. The wine and the memories of Delly’s excitement and eagerness to help me, her certainty that Peeta would be blown away, help me surmount the last of my anxiety.

“Fuck it,” I mutter as I set my empty glass in the sink and turn the light back off before marching into our bedroom. But I’m running out of time. While Peeta will stay out long enough to make sure there are no disturbances on the streets – like Eddy Summers and Beau Thompson TP-ing Principal Hetzenberg’s house – it won’t take much longer in a town like this.

With a deep breath, I strip down, stuff myself into the leather-trimmed lace contraption that calls itself a bra, pull on my thigh-high stockings, and then the skirt and shirt. Standing in front of the mirror, I slip on the ridiculous heels I picked out to go with this, second-guessing my choice. Should’ve gone with the boots. But when I stand upright, fluff my hair, and add the hat that I angle over one eye, all my remaining doubts skip town for the weekend. I don’t know what Delly did to the side seams or the cleavage, but even I can admit that I look damn good. The small, lace-lined slit that she added to the skirt is a nice touch, too.

I pop my hip and smirk a little before I pull out the finishing touch from the back of my panty drawer. Holding them up by one end, I watch as they spin and gleam in the lamplight… _ handcuffs. _

My phone chimes with a text from Delly.  _ He just dropped off Thom and is headed your way. Knock his socks off, girl _ .

I send back a thumbs up, plunge the bedroom into darkness, and stumble through the house to wait near the front door. The headlights from his truck cut through the night and I run my hands down the obscenely short, skin-tight skirt before taking my stance in the dark. By the time Peeta makes it inside, my pulse in my ears nearly deafens me.

“Katniss? Everything alright? The lights are all—fuck.” He curses when his knee collides with the hall table and I bite back a laugh as he flips on the light and finally spots me.

After a moment of stunned silence, his eyes drop to the floor, mouth hanging open as he skims up over me in my cop costume, standing with my feet wide and my hands on my hips, a scowl on my face. The handcuffs dangle from my fingertips, hanging down my thigh, and for good measure, I make them sway a little.

“Fuck,” he breathes again as his gaze reaches my breasts then skips up to my eyes. “Wha—”

“You’re under arrest, Sheriff,” I tell him in my best sexy, command voice and one eyebrow leaps up his forehead. He tosses his keys aside and takes one step towards me. I waver, thinking once again that maybe he’s not into role play and this was a terrible idea, but then the corner of his mouth twitches and his eyes take on a predatory gleam. I have to fight back the shiver that tickles down my spine, to remain in character.

“What are the charges?” he asks quietly.

“Excessive hotness and transporting dimples across state lines.”

Peeta smiles, even laughs a little, revealing the offending dimples, but then he takes two steps and kisses me hard enough to knock the hat off my head and steal the breath from my lungs. His fingers dig into my hips and heat flashes through me as he pushes me backwards. I squeak in his mouth and fall out of my heels, leaving them behind. The handcuffs drop from my grip as I cling to his arms and try to keep up, but he’s moving so fast that I’m being carried more than I’m walking, my toes skimming over the floor.

He only stops once we reach the bedroom, but even then, his hands still move, tearing at my shirt until it’s flung across the room, and then pawing at my breasts in their lace and leather cage.

“Fuck, Katniss. This is –  _ damn _ .”

“Trick or treat, Peeta,” I tease, unbuckling his pants and yanking down the zipper while his hands fly over the buttons on his own uniform shirt.

“Treat,” he says as he flings it aside and we both work his undershirt up over his head. “Fuck, damn, I choose treat.”

I smile but then his palms grasp my cheeks and haul me back into a kiss, all thoughts of smiling devoured beneath his ravenous mouth. I do manage to get his pants off before his arms wrap around me and hold me close, rendering my hands useless against his chest.

With a shuddering breath, his lips turn gentle on mine for a moment, hands caressing my back, warming the already flushed skin. I push my hips into him as he unclasps my bra, encouraged by how hard he is and the soft moan in his throat. When I get my hands in his hair, he flips my skirt up to my waist and grabs my ass, tossing me onto the bed. I shimmy up the mattress, flinging aside the bra while he strips off his black briefs.

“Where are your panties, Miss?” he asks, crawling after me. I shrug and he groans. “Fuck, I oughta be arresting  _ you _ for excessive hotness.”

He wastes no time on foreplay, but I don’t mind, already half crazed with the need to have him inside me. Just getting dressed in this thing, the anticipation, and seeing his reaction was foreplay enough. Peeta groans as he fills me and I grip his shoulders, bend my knees to embrace him and let him go deep. He rotates his hips and kisses my neck, whispers to make sure I’m okay. Murmurs about how wet and hot I feel on his cock after I alleviate his concern. I purposely flex my walls on him, drawing forth another delicious groan.

Sometimes this is my favorite part of sex with Peeta, that moment right after we’re joined and before we start moving, relishing just a few seconds of closeness and trust. But tonight, I want him to pound me and soothe this ache in my core.

“Fuck me hard, Peeta,” I whisper and he curses under his breath.

His hips pull back and roll into me. Harder with each thrust as I writhe beneath him and cling to his shoulders, begging him to go faster. Deeper. Until he’s slamming into me, his forehead resting between my breasts, his groans vibrating through my belly, and my nails scoring lines down his arms and his back. The headboard smacks into the wall and my shouts are probably loud enough to make the neighbors call the cops for a domestic disturbance, but the sheriff’s already here.

My toes curl on his ass, digging into the dimples there as ecstasy freezes me in place and rips a high pitched scream from my chest. Then he’s cursing and flailing, one hand gripping my breast and wrenching the flesh while he shouts with his own release.

Afterwards, his lips caress over mine, his hands brushing back strands of wild hair while I hold him close to me, enjoying the weight of him on top of me. The kisses are so sweet compared to what we just did that they almost make me laugh. Instead, I find myself moaning again as Peeta’s hips swivel between my legs, press into mine until a second orgasm spreads, soft, molten, and rich, through my limbs.

“Peeta,” I gasp as the tremors pass and he finally stops moving. He kisses the sweat from my neck and chest. It’s only later –  after we’ve cleaned up and we lie in bed with his kisses on my neck, his arms around me, and his chest protecting my back – that I realize I didn’t even get to use the handcuffs on him.

Damn dimples distracted me. Again. This is why he should be arrested for them, I think as I drift into sleep. I’ll get him back for it in the morning.

 


	4. Both: Pure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From "Pure," set about a year after the final chapter, inspired by a post on tumblr about waking up in a hospital with the person you love next to you and just knowing they’ve been there awhile and can’t leave you.

I spent enough time wandering this hospital when Sarah was assaulted to know exactly where I’m going. Three quick turns left and one flight of stairs up. I even know which board to stop at, scanning the names for the one I want, my stomach twisting when I find it next to the number 12K. Ironic.

Turning on my heel, I charge down the hall, right past the nurses’ station.

“Miss…Miss! You can’t be on this ward unless--!”

I whirl around to face the nurse, barely holding back tears, arms crossed over my chest to keep my heart from crumbling to ash in my chest. Fucking hormones. She balks at the look in my eyes, but I don’t need her calling security on me so I huff and manage to get myself somewhat under control.

“I’m here to see my husband – Lieutenant Peeta Mellark. He’s in 12K.”

“Yes, alright,” the nurse says, her hand reaching out for a second as if to place it on my arm and then thinking better of it. “If you’ll just wait a moment…”

She waves at one of the nurses at the station and a few stray tears sneak out of my eyes. I stare at the ceiling and forbid anymore to fall. Not now. There’s no reason to cry yet. He’s alive. Here. Safe.

Relatively.

“Mrs. Mellark, I’m Dr. Atalanta. I’ve been taking care of your husband.”

“Can I see him?” I ask before I lower my gaze to look at her.

“In a moment,” she assures me in a soft voice. The nurse hands me a tissue and I snatch it but don’t use it just yet. “He’s still under from the surgery and won’t wake for at least another hour or so. I’m afraid the accident Lieutenant Mellark was involved in did severe damage to his left knee and thigh. Someone on the ship was able to use a tourniquet to stop the blood flow, but by the time he got to us, we had no choice. We had to amputate his left leg.”

A strange humming takes residence in my ear as she keeps talking. I open my mouth and shut it again, a fish out of the water, unable to breath until she tells me what I really need to know.

“He’ll be able to start physical training in about a week. Once the sutures and skin grafts from the amputation have healed, we can fit him for a prosthetic leg, and the physical training will gain intensity after that. The good news is that with proper rehabilitation, time, and effort, there’s no reason he can’t be back at sea early next year. It’s a lot to take in, so if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them.”

“Can I see him, now?” I repeat. Her head pulls back slightly and her eyes widen in surprise.

“Are you sure you don’t want to know more about the recovery process first?”

“You can explain it to us both at the same time after he wakes up. Can I see him or not?” Dr. Atalanta blinks twice before motioning behind her down the hall.

“Right this way, Mrs. Mellark.”

She shows me to room 12K and I hurry inside before she changes her mind, screeching to a halt when my eyes find Peeta laid out in a hospital gown with a seafoam green blanket pulled up to his chest. Monitors beep with the steady cadence of his heart. His eyes are shut, deep rings beneath them. His lips pinched, skin pale. I make a strange noise somewhere between the gasp of a drowning person who’s just come up for air or maybe the noise of someone choked to within a breath of asphyxiation before they were released. My feet carry me to his side. I drop my bag on the floor, hands tearing at the laces of my boots until they’re loose enough for me to kick aside.

“Mrs. Mellark, I’m not sure it’s—”

I grab an extra blanket from the shelf and glare at her before climbing onto the narrow bed on his left side, since his right hand and arm are connected to monitors and an IV. Once I have the blanket situated, keeping us both warm, I lift his left arm and lay down, burrowing into his side with his arm around me and my face nuzzling his neck.

“I’ll let you two have some time together,” Dr. Atalanta murmurs, a slight smile on her face as she leaves the room.

Do I sleep? I can’t be sure. I drift on a sea of tortured dreams and wake groggy and disoriented. Confused by the change in the light outside the window. I think about getting up to close the curtains, but I’m not ready to remove my touch from Peeta just yet. Instead I close my eyes and listen to the steady blips of his pulse on the monitor, feel it beneath my cheek as I breath in the scent of him buried beneath the antiseptic.

It’s then that he shifts and slowly wakes. I lift my head, determined that mine will be the first face he sees when he wakes. His lashes flutter and then part. His blue eyes are the same, whether in the cold streets of Twelve, the warmth of our apartment, or here in a hospital. Royal blue and reminding me that everything will be okay somehow. Together, we’ve survived much worse already.

“Katniss,” he croaks.

“I know we talked about you getting out of the navy, Peeta, but don’t you think becoming a peg-legged pirate is taking it a bit too far?” The words float between us and I can’t take them back, but Peeta’s lips part the clouds as he smiles, then he laughs as much as his scratchy throat will allow.

“C’mere,” he murmurs, tightening his arm around me as I shift to bring our lips together. His heart beats beneath my palm and beeps in my ear, his taste floods my mouth. He’d only been gone a few months before this accident, but his kiss feels like it’s been years. Desperate and hungry. His hands grasp at me, pulling tighter and closer until he’s practically dragging me onto his lap. Someone walks by the door, talking loudly and it’s only then I manage to get ahold of my reeling senses enough to remember the possibility of nurses and doctors walking in on us at any moment. Of witnesses from the hallway through the open door.

“Wait, Peeta,” I gasp as I tear my mouth from his and brace my hands on his chest to put some space between us. Something dark flickers in his eyes as I look around the room and sigh in relief when I see that the source of the noise has already moved on.

“Something wrong?” he asks, a sharp edge to his voice.

“Making sure we weren’t about to be interrupted,” I say, relaxing my arms to lower my lips to his again. Peeta turns his head aside and my lips plant on his cheek. I freeze as dread flutters up from my toes. This isn’t how I’d imagined our reunion, or telling him our news, or anything, really. Slowly, I lift my lips but keep my face close to his, willing him to look at me as his jaw clenches and I try to find a reason for the sudden swing in his mood.

“How long can you stay?” he asks and suddenly, I’m angry too. For the reminder of how many times in our past I’ve run away from him when I should have been running towards him. For all the fear and worry I felt between the time I received the news and managed to get the kids safely in Seeder’s hands and then get to the hospital. For the fact that the navy didn’t see fit to even tell me he was injured until he was already back on shore and in surgery. For the joyous secret I carry in me that I’m no longer sure will be a shared joy. For the unexplained coldness in Peeta’s voice.

But I know that anger will do me no good and most of what angers me right now isn’t necessarily his fault. I swallow it back and instead cup my hand over his cheek and turn him to look at me again.

“Always,” I murmur and the chill in his eyes wavers, revealing the source of his distance to me. Fear. Doubt. Insecurity. Does he really think that a severed leg will drive me from him? After everything we’ve been through? I can’t allow him to keep thinking that, so I smile and shift the blankets and my body to straddle him, covering both of us from the prying eyes of the world outside this room. I plant a kiss on his cheek then one on the other.

“They’ll have to drag me from this hospital bed unless you’re leaving it too,” I whisper and Peeta’s hands rest on my knees, his features relax a little more. I kiss his chin and his nose.  “They better send their best security, too. Because I plan on putting up one hell of a fight. Causing all kinds of trouble.”

“Why?” he asks with the last bit of ice flaking off the edges of his tone. “Because you think I’m some kind of charity case now?”

“No,” I murmur. “Did you think that about me? When I was just the town whore and you were the unattainable virgin?”

For a second, a new kind of doubt flares in his gaze, and I know, I’ve almost convinced him.

“I want to be here for you, Peeta, the way you were for me. Not because I think you need me or because I think you can’t heal perfectly fine without me, but because I love you. And  _ I _ need  _ you _ .”

His lips tremble with a suppressed smile and I brush my lips over his as his hand fists my shirt and tugs it out from my pants.

“That and I just don’t want an audience when I kiss you or when I show you how much I’ve missed you.”

Finally, his smile breaks through and I seal our mouths back together. And while this kiss is desperate and hungry, it lacks the frantic blade of fear of the last one. The steady beeping of the heart monitor accelerates, telling me how affected he is by this kiss, as though I couldn’t already tell by the feel of his lips against mine or the tugging of his fingers in my hair.

I am seized by the need to kiss all of him, to check every stretch of skin for new injuries and to relearn the terrain of his leg. He sighs when I end the kiss, murmurs my name when I continue it along his neck, blanketing him with the tactile proof of my love for him.

“You still have no idea the effect you have on me,” he whispers, fingers clenching on my clothes and heart monitor beeping rapidly.

“I have some idea,” I murmur as I peel back his hospital gown enough to lick over the edge of his tattoo.

“Katniss, I – oh –“ he moans as my hand skims down his left thigh then back up beneath the coarse cotton to stroke his hardening cock. “Someone might – god that feels good.”

“Someone might what, Peeta?” I tease and he bucks into my touch, the monitor skipping a beat before double timing. I bite my lip and watch his face as he struggles with holding back and giving in. I may never tire of all the miniscule expressions that dance across his face when he’s lost in pleasure. Maybe it’s the thrill of being caught, or maybe it’s the time apart, but it doesn’t take much before Peeta’s cheeks turn pink and his body curls with each spasm of his abs that would be a full fledged thrust if we were at home together. And I can’t wait to get him home.

“Fuck, gonna--” he grunts and I smile as I cup one hand over his tip to catch his cum and use the other to stroke him while he fights and shivers with containing his moans. I lean forward and help by swallowing them, cataloging each shuddering breath he releases over my cheek before finally falling still. Our lips part reluctantly, slowly. He stares at me in awe.

“Hold the blanket,” I tell him.

“What?” he gasps as I dive beneath and then I nearly laugh as he curses and squirms, but I have a mouthful of his cock as I suck him clean. When I surface, I lick my hand clean as well and Peeta groans. “You’re trying to finish me off, aren’t you?”

“Not even close,” I purr and stretch out next to him. “You’re stronger than that.” He wraps his arms around me and adjusts the blankets. Then we lay there listening to his pulse return to normal.

“You really want to stay? You’d be a lot more comfortable in your bed at home,” Peeta whispers, and I know he isn’t just talking about me staying at the hospital right now.

“Our bed. And I’m not going anywhere. I’m exactly where I want to be,” I murmur and he tightens his hold on me. “I’m with both of the people who mean more to me than anything else in the world.”

I bite my lip and hold my breath as Peeta’s hands fall still on me and his body goes rigid while he processes what I just said.

“Both?”

With a deep breath, I peel his right hand off my arm and flatten it on the slight curve of my belly, holding his touch there as I tilt my head back to look him in the eyes. I drink in the hopeful nervousness I see there and I know we’ll be okay. We’ll find our way through this as long as we have each other.

“Both,” I tell him.

 


	5. Autolatry: Come On Baby, Light My Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Come On Baby, Light My Fire, written using the last word hanging out in my tumblr inbox that never got used. Autolatry: the worship of one’s self. Summary: Peeta comes home early to an unexpected surprise. 1,989 Words. Written October 2018. WARNINGS: RATED E for explicit sexual content, explicit language

**Autolatry -** The worship of one’s self.

 

* * *

 

My feet scrape on the floor as I stare at the  _ Out of Order  _ sign on the elevator door. Turning around, I take the stairs instead. It’s been a long couple of days. Chief decided to try something new with our shifts. Now we spend forty-eight hours straight down at the station, followed by two days off and then repeat. He swears it’s more efficient, but it’s been putting a strain on things between me and Katniss.

I told her she could just come sleep at the station with me, like Annie sometimes does with Finnick, but after the few times we tried that, she insisted she doesn’t sleep well there. Lately, the end of the school year has been draining all her energy too. She was pissed at me when I told her I’d be spending the first two days she had off for summer break at the station and would barely look at me when I left this morning.

Which is why I asked Daniel to switch with me since his shift the past few days was extremely quiet. One field trip and one smoke alarm at an office complex that amounted to nothing. Took me four hours and some bribery to convince him, but in the end, I managed. Hopefully, Katniss will be happy enough to see me that we can work things out.

When I reach the door to our apartment, I have to stop to dig out my keys.

“Oooooh.”

I freeze at the elongated moan from inside. My cock twitches in my pants but my brain jumps straight to more paranoid images. For one second, I feel as though I’m being torn apart. I know she’s upset with me, but--

“Oh yeeeesss.”

As quietly as possible, I unlock the door and slip inside. I unlace my boots to the sounds of her breathy moans, each small hitch in her vocalizations making me harder. With just my socks on, I can move quietly towards the bedroom door.

Relief burns through me as I push it open just a small amount and peer through. She’s sprawled on our bed in nothing but a tank top, head reclining on the pillow and eyes shut as one hand kneads her breast and the other one works a vibrator through her glistening folds.

Her feet curl as I watch and her knees draw up as her body arches.

“Oooooooh Peetaaaaaa- ah,” she moans as her body spasms.

I am instantly hard and throbbbing. All doubts erased with the way she sings my name in pleasure.

Just one problem. Let her finish in privacy? Stay where I am and watch? Or help out?

It’ll probably anger her, but my feet won’t move. Instead my hand covers my dick and I rub myself through my pants as I watch her climb closer to orgasm. Just as I’m wondering if I can get away with unzipping my pants to better stroke myself without drawing her attention, she goes limp.

“Fuck,” she says and lifts her head to glare down at herself. Frustration.

Biting her lip, she lets her head fall back and moves the vibrator up to her clit. Her mouth rounds out but I can tell she’s trying too hard. I slide through the door and lay out on the bed, bringing my face right to her crotch.

“Peeta!” she gasps, cheeks flushed as she tries to sit up. I grab her wrist and guide the vibrator back down to her clit.

“Pretend I’m not really here. Keep going.”

She laughs and shifts her feet on the bed, planting them wide as she works the vibrator over her clit and her eyes remain glued to mine. The scent of her arousal washes over me and I can’t resist. I trace her lips with my fingers and she shivers.

“More,” she pleads. I could never deny her anyways and spread her enough to taste the inside of her lips with my tongue.

“You’re so fucking wet,” I marvel and her head tips back as I curl my tongue inside her, scooping her arousal into my mouth so it touches all my taste buds. I slide two fingers in her, meeting very little resistance. Just a slight tug of her walls on my skin. “Don’t move that vibrator.”

“Okay,” she stutters out the word as I pump my fingers slowly.

“Fuck, you’re getting wetter.”

“Peeta,” she whines and I glance up at her eyes, pupils wide and lids droopy with need. “I wanna come.”

“In a minute,” I tell her. “I wanna taste you as you come.”

“Oh god,” she moans and I lick up one side of her and down the other. Her hand shakes and I wrap my fingers around her wrist to press the vibrator harder against her clit, drawing slow tight circles over the bud. I suck on her lips and curl my fingers inside her. My skull is buzzing and my body tight with the need to plunge inside her. She comes with a shout, legs flailing and wetness seeping over my tongue. Something lands on the floor but I ignore it for now in favor of lapping up everything she gives me.

She tries to move the vibrator away from her, but I keep my hold firm.

“No. Too much,” she gasps, but I keep it there as I shift to my knees. I want her second peak on my cock. Hard enough for her to see stars for days and just the feel of her walls clenching on my dick milks my own release.

I tear at my pants as she whines and reaches one hand down to help. We get them down just enough to spring my cock free. I grab myself and drag the head through her folds. Up to her clit and I tremble as the vibrations hit my tip and rock through my body.

“Fuck that feels good,” I moan as I bring the head back down. I torment us both like that for a few passes. I’m panting and she’s squirming and then her free hand tears my shirt free of my pants. 

“Peeta, please, fuck.”  

This time I bring my tip down away from the amazing feel of the vibrations and use it to swirl through her arousal. Her lips part eagerly for me. She’s still wet and slick as I enter her, and I groan at the feel of her walls as they flutter slightly and grip and widen for me. 

Our hips meet and press the vibrator deep into both of us. Right against my pubic bone in a way that tickles and stimulates me too. She claws at my forearm as I start to move. Shallow thrusts so I can still feel the vibrations. Rock the thing against her clit as I move inside her. I try to set a slow pace, but the mindless need to fuck her into the bed fights against my desire to draw this out as long as possible. My thrusts gradually pick up speed despite my will to go slow.

“Oh my fucking god yes!” Katniss practically screams. She arches beneath me, hips gyrating, hands gripping my ass and nails scoring burning lines of need into my cheeks, spurring me to move faster, to match her pace, drawing a loud moan out of me that’s buried under her shouts. “Yesyesyesyesyesyes!”

I can feel my balls tightening and open my mouth to warn her when she goes rigid and silent beneath me. Her walls clamp down like a vice. Gripping me so hard I can’t tell one spasm from the next. Warmth ripples over my skin and down to my balls. My hips slam into her and then jerk uncontrollably as a black veil falls over my vision, heat sweeping up through my body as I come.

“Katniss, fuck,” I groan as my arms give out and my face plants in her hair spread across the pillow. We lay there as my cock pulses, emptying my cum inside her. Her walls clench for a few more seconds before finally stopping.

Then we lay there gasping for air. She shifts beneath me and the buzzing of the vibrator stops. She tosses it aside and then runs her fingers through my hair. When I finally manage to lift my head, she’s opens one eye to look up at me.

“I thought you were working the next two days.”

“Switched with Daniel so we could spend the first two days of your break together.” She smiles and runs her hands down my shoulders and arms to my waist. 

“So I’ve got you all to myself?”

“Yep. I’m all yours for the next two days. I’m sorry I didn’t switch with him sooner.”

“I’ve just missed you so much since they changed the scheduling. Especially at night,” she whispers and lifts her head to kiss me. At first soft and loving. Then her tongue teases my bottom lip and I part them for her. She tastes me in a way that makes my dick lurch, almost ready to go again.

Her head drops back down to the pillow, separating our mouths with a smack and she smiles up at me. 

“Got any ideas on what we should do?”

“A few,” she says and tugs on my shirt until I move enough for her to get it off me. My hip rolls through the mess we made, but I couldn’t care less when she speaks again. “You need to be mostly or completely naked for all of them, though.”

I laugh as she pushes me off her and starts working on getting my pants completely off of me. I glance over at the clock to gauge how much time I’ve got to go down on her before we have to think about food. She’s kissing my thighs and running her hands over my abs. I swing my gaze back towards her but it jumps back to the floor and the thing we we knocked off the bed earlier. I twist and bend, reaching for the glossy pages.

“No!” Katniss shouts and dives for it, her body sliding across mine as I extend my arm, moving the thing out of her reach.

“Were you masturbating to porn?” I tease and she bites her lip, attempts to snatch it out of my grasp.

I flip her off me onto her stomach and pin her to the bed with her hands trapped beneath her. Then I take a look. Stare in silence.

“It’s a really hot picture of you,” she whines.

“As I recall...you tied me to the bed just weeks ago when some drunk girl mentioned this calendar.”

“She said she got off to your picture! While I was standing right there! On my birthday!” She shouts the last as if it’s the greatest offense of all.

“Hmmm,” I say in speculation. “If I’m remembering right, you teased me and got me close to coming five times that night before you let me finish. And here you are...getting yourself off to the same photograph.”

Katniss groans and squirms beneath me. I can already feel blood rushing down my body, the warmth of renewed arousal as her ass brushes against me. I’ve never come so hard in my life as I did that night.

“Don’t move,” I command and smack her ass with the calendar. She whimpers but stays still as I find my pants and slide the belt through the loops.

“Peeta?” she asks as I wrap the leather around her wrists, secure it and stretch her arms above her head. Then I set the calendar in her hands. She grips the sides of it automatically, so my picture is right in front of her.

“Naughty girl,” I whisper in her ear and caress over her body down between her legs. “Show me how much that picture turns you on.”


	6. Catnip Nocturne: Wrapped in Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Wrapped in Red, set between chapters 26 and 27. It’s Halloween and Katniss has a great way to keep Peeta’s mind off of Karina’s first Trick-or-Treat without adult supervision. 5,601 Words. Written October 2018. WARNINGS: RATED E for explicit sexual content, explicit language and...naughty socks. ;)

“You got your phone?”

“All set!” Karina says, waving at me as she and her friends slip out the door.

“Be back before--” the door shuts and I sigh. “Nine.”

“She’ll be fine. You went over the rules with her yesterday,” Katniss says and kisses my cheek as she joins me in the kitchen. “And again this morning. And once more about twenty minutes ago.”

“Am I being overprotective?” I ask and she laughs, taking the scissors to a bag of sour gummy worm packets to hand out to the trick-or-treaters.

“You’re being just the right amount of protective. Overprotective would be not letting her go at all or following her around the neighborhood dressed in hunting gear you borrowed from Gale with a pair of binoculars.” I reach for my phone and she stops me with her hand over mine. “What are you doing?”

“Calling Gale.”

Katniss laughs and pushes my phone across the counter.

“Relax, Peeta. Go start the video while I make sure we’ve got our scary music going outside and then we’ll cuddle on the couch and deal with far too many interruptions.” 

I sigh, but she’s right. This is the first year I’m letting Karina go out unsupervised for trick-or-treating and it’s got my gut all twisted up in worry. 

Katniss upends the bag to dump the candy into a festive bowl and I smile at how she’s dressed. A simple black dress, black tights, and fuzzy black cat ears. I tilt my head and notice the long feline tail pinned to her dress.

“You look cute, by the way,” I tell her and she scrunches up her face in a scowl, but lets me kiss her nose anyways. “I’ll go start the movie.”

“Good,” she says and picks up the candy bowl then turns towards the front door.

Purple ribbons lace up the back of her tights and I tilt my head in confusion. What kind of tights…

A few pieces of candy slide off the top of the heap in the bowl and land on the floor. Katniss bends over to retrieve them, her dress riding up.

Fuck me. Not tights. Not tights at all, I realize as I catch just a flash of smooth olive toned skin above lace toppers.

They’re stockings.

“Katniss,” I say as she stands up with the candy. She turns just enough to smile at me, the expression sly. “Cute is the wrong word.”

She laughs at me and I swear under my breath. I start the movie and she joins me after dealing with a few trick-or-treaters, but it becomes apparent very fast that she’ll be handling all of the passing out candy duties. Because otherwise, someone’s going to think I’m a pervert.

I plant my ass on the couch and fake a deep interest in  _ The Great Pumpkin _ even though I’ve seen it a hundred times before. Katniss leans into me and I drape one arm around her as she draws random shapes on my leg. There’s no way I can concentrate on the video. Not with her dress riding up and giving me glimpses of her thighs. Not with the flashes I get of the purple ribbons every time she stands up to answer the doorbell. Not with the way she touches me, teases me when she is sitting on the couch next to me. I’m too occupied with thoughts of bending her over the back of the couch, flipping her dress up, and burying my cock in her pussy to pay attention to a family oriented cartoon.

At one point, I can tell it’s either a large group at the door or several groups close together, so I head into the kitchen, open up a few more bags for her, and start some popcorn.

“Something wrong, Peeta?” she asks me as she stops in the kitchen to refill the bowl.

“No, nothing,” I say and she smiles. She knows exactly what she’s doing to me. Every time she’s worn a pair of these stockings, it resulted in me sporting an almost painful erection and then us having ridiculously hot sex. The pale pink on Valentine’s day, the sunset orange on my birthday, a pale yellow on a random summer day, and god the ones that were her something blue on our wedding day… Now she’s added these. And honestly if the red ones don’t make a reappearance somewhere around Christmas this year, we’re gonna have some words, me and Katniss.

“You seem a little out of it,” she says when we’re only forty minutes into the night and I snort.

“A little?” Two hours of trick-or-treating. We’re not even halfway done. This is damn near torture.

“At least you’re not worried about Karina!” she sings and heads back towards the door as the bell rings again.

No, I guess I’m not. She’s appropriately responsible for her age, I trust her to be smart. And it’s not like she’s all by herself. She’s with Meaghan, Elaina, and a few other girls she knows from school. Just to be sure, I allow myself one text.

_ Having fun? _

I don’t have to wait long before the answer comes in.

**_Yes, Dad. We’re fine. At the Maxson’s house right now. <3_ **

I can almost hear her sighing at me and carry the popcorn back to the living room. Katniss snatches my phone from my hand and tosses it on the coffee table.

“Hey,” I protest and she grins before sitting right in my lap. “What if I was dealing with an emergency with our daughter?”

“Then you wouldn’t have brought popcorn. Or look so calm right now. And…” she trails off and swivels her hips. My cock jumps and my fingers dig into her hips. My jeans are getting really uncomfortable. “You wouldn’t have a hard on.”

I narrow my eyes at her and the doorbell rings before we can even unpause the movie. “Was this part of your devious plan to distract me?”

Katniss deals with the kids at the door then returns, kneeling on the couch next to me and sliding one hand over my cock, fondles me through my jeans. She nibbles on my ear and I suck in air as shots of pleasure jump through my nerves.

“It’s not just about distracting you from your worries,” she whispers, tickling my ear and making me shiver with delight. “I want to get fucked tonight. Legs over my head, screaming myself hoarse fucked. And I know how much you like these stockings.”

I curse and then she’s gone again, leaving me blinking and confused until I hear the shouts from the front door. I didn’t even hear the bell that time. Sliding down in my seat, I stare at the screen, counting the minutes and cursing each one because even when the kids stop ringing the doorbell, we’ll still have to wait until Karina goes to bed before I can even think of filling Katniss’ wishes.

It’s not an easy night. Up and down and up off the couch, Katniss deals with the kids outside our door and reports back with the better costumes she spots. Up and down and up, I’m not sure my body can handle this much back and forth on being aroused. Right around eight, things slow down and we’re actually able to finish watching, only her hand is caressing over my thigh and drawing closer and closer to where I want her to touch me. She’s half laying on top of me, her dress almost up over her hip and I manage to find some retribution in swirling my fingertips over her thighs, along the lace ridges of her stockings. 

She shifts and I’m able to slip my fingers between her legs, over her panties as she sighs and her nails dig into me. Her panties are damp with arousal. I bend over to whisper to her.

“I think I want you to leave the ears on. Is that weird?”

“I think we found your kink,” she teases and slowly lowers the zipper on my jeans. My pulse pounds in my ears and blood rushes to my cock. I’m eagerly waiting for her touch, but as soon as she parts the fly enough to slide her hand through...

The doorbell rings.

I groan and my head falls back on the couch as Katniss’ hand disappears from my body.

“I guess I forgot to turn the light off,” she admits and sashays back towards the door. I watch her ass as she goes and stifle another groan as I imagine leaving the dress on just shoved up her body.

“Is it even kinkier if I want to grab your ass and take you from behind?” Then I’m imagining wrapping that tail around my fist as I fuck her like that and it makes me even harder. Apparently, I am a closet furry. She laughs at my question and opens the door.

“Trick-or-Treat!” a familiar chorus of girls shouts.

“Shit,” I mutter and zip my jeans back up. Then I grab a pillow to put on my lap because the ears and wanting to fuck my wife from behind might just count as a kink, but having an erection around five teenage girls is every kind of wrong, even if it was my wife who gave me said hard-on.

Katniss hands out candy to Karina and all her friends and then the group barrels through the door. They congregate in the living room and check their loot while Katniss turns off the lights and sound effects outside our house. 

“Cute costume, Mrs. M!” Elaina says and touches Katniss’ ears. She blushes and her eyes dart to mine as she thanks the girl.

“Did you ask yet, Karina?” Meaghan says and my daughter collapses next to me.

“Dad, Elaina’s having a sleepover and I know we’ve got soccer tomorrow but--”

“No, that’s fine,” I say. It’s probably bad parenting for me to be so eager to get her out of the house, but I’m gonna blame Katniss for this lapse.

“Oh good. Because I packed my bag earlier. If you could just bring my soccer gear when you pick me up?”

“Sure thing,” I tell her and the girls squeal.

“I’ll call my mom,” Elaina says.

“Thanks, Daddy,” Karina plants a kiss on my cheek and then the horde of girls marches upstairs to gather her things. I shift my gaze to Katniss and wink at her. She shakes her head.

“You’re getting up early to go get her from Elaina’s.”

“Hey. You wore the stockings,” I remind her. “I’m just assisting you with your devious plans to mount me.”

A few minutes later, the girls are gone and the house settles into silence. Katniss groans and snuggles up next to me, and for a few minutes, we sit in peace and enjoy the quiet. 

As much as I’ve been turned on all night, these moments together like this mean more to me than all the hot sex in the world. I let my fingers skip up and down her arm and enjoy the pressure of her hand on my chest. The little touches and the warmth of her body close to mine are a kind of connection I cherish with her. I turn my head just enough to kiss her forehead and with a soft sigh, she shifts to look up at me. Half a smile curls over her mouth and I stare into her gray eyes for just a second before she lurches forward to plant a kiss on my mouth. She’s gone before I can get into it and watches me, her eyes almost shy, at odds with her brazen behavior earlier.

I bring my arm around to cup her cheek, run my thumb over her soft skin. There are days I still can’t quite believe we’re here. That Katniss loves me, wants me,  _ married _ me. That we’ve built a life together. But sometimes, she feels doubt, too. Sometimes it’s wondering if she’s a good mother to Karina — she’s an amazing mother — but more often than not, her doubts are about how sexy and attractive she is, which is honestly ridiculous, but I don’t mind setting her doubts at ease.

With a gentle tug, I bring her lips back to mine, and this time kiss her. She takes a deep, shuddering breath and her fingers ghost over the back of my hand. I intend to keep it slow and gentle but then she nips at my bottom lip and a sound I’d almost call a growl vibrates in my chest. It seems to give her confidence. Enough to remove my hand from her face and drop it down to her thigh.

I caress her leg and toy with the stockings, almost dizzy with holding back. She tips her head back and my lips slide down her throat.

“Yes. Please,” she gasps as my fingers search higher up her legs. She shifts to give me more room and once more, I tease her over her panties. She grabs hold of my sleeve and rocks her hips, slow slight movements. I can feel her growing wetter and smile against her throat as she lets out a soft moan.

Then her hand is in my hair, dragging my mouth back to hers and what started sweet turns wild and ravenous. I try to keep my fingers on her gentle but it’s impossible with the way she starts writhing on the couch.

Without breaking our kiss, she rises on her knees and straddles me. Her tongue caresses mine and my hands clench on her ass, pulling her tight against me. She squeaks in my mouth and grinds down on my cock. It almost hurts, and I’m not sure if it’s the pressure of her weight on me or the fact that I’m so fucking turned on right now.

My hands slide up her back and she shivers. Tugs on my hair and I take that as encouragement to drag the zipper down her dress. Down slow so I can hear the grind of each tooth, at least I hear it in my head because our breathing has gotten ragged and fills the room.

“Peeta,” she gasps as I tug on the shoulders of her dress. We work together to peel off the sleeves and shove the thing down to her waist. Her bra is flung across the room. Then she leans back, setting her hands on my thighs as I caress her belly, her ribs, up to her breasts.

“Gorgeous,” I whisper. “I’ve been thinking about this all night. But you know that. You made sure of it by wearing those stockings.”

She smiles and rocks her hips as I palm her breasts. Pinch and roll her nipples and pluck them into tight buds. Her head rolls back and her sharp gasps are music to my ears as she grinds on me. I’m already close to exploding, but I want her soaking wet. I always want her to come first and come hard, so I distract myself with touching her, pleasing her.

When I bend my head forward and suck one dusky areola into my mouth, she cries out in pleasure. Her fingers spear through my hair and pull. I can’t help the smile on my face or the way my teeth tug on her nipple. God I love it when she tugs on my hair. And she loves my teeth on her nipples.

She whines when I let it go, but gasps out her approval when I take care of the other one. Her hips have grown frantic and when I move one hand down to seek out her clit, she bats it away before I can reach my goal.

Confused, I lift my head and meet her determined gaze. She knows what she wants and that’s what she’ll be getting. I know better than to try to dissuade Katniss from anything when she’s got that burning look in her eyes. Not that I’d want to.

She tears at my belt and my zipper and my hands sort of hover awkwardly in the air because she’s moving so fast, I’m sure I’ll get in the way if I try to help. She shoves cloth out of the way, my cock swaying free with the force of the movement. I brace my hands on the couch, intending to lift my hips to help remove my jeans.

“Do you want me to--” but she just tugs her panties to the side and sinks down onto my cock in one motion. “--oh  _ fuck _ !” 

The shout is out of my mouth as her walls grip and tug on my skin. My hands fly to her ribs to hold her steady as her body sways back away from me and her head drops back. A primal moan fills my ears.

“Oh god I needed this,” she whines as she starts moving. “You look so fucking sexy. Smell so good. I’ve been horny all night.”

“I’m supposed to say that,” I tease as I drop one hand to caress her thighs and finger some of the purple ribbon on her stockings.

Her hips roll and she smiles as she moves, soft moans escaping through her teeth. Pleasure shivers up and down my body as I watch her, feel her surrounding me.

“I just...just need,” she gasps and her hands grip my thighs to give her more leverage to move.

“What do you need?” I ask as she picks up speed and I blink back the haze of fulfillment just within my reach.

“Need to come. Just real quick,” she pleads and I grip her ass to guide her motions. “Yes! Oh!”

Her movements grow wider and deeper, her moans louder and my only regret is that with my jeans still on, I can’t feel the material of her stockings against my legs as she rides me.

“Oh -- oh -- almost!” She wails and I bend my head to once more suck on her breasts. “Yes! Peeta!” 

That seems to do it as her hips switch to a frantic pace and her hands both grab fistfuls of my hair, yanking it every which way. Then her walls clench and release me in a steady rhythm and I suck in a breath to hold onto it and force my hips to remain still as she thrashes and comes and squeals loud enough to wake the dead.

When she’s done, I’m barely hanging on, and her entire body trembles in my arms. She drops her head to my shoulder and takes deep, gasping breaths. I caress over her bare back as we sit there and the afterglow sets in for her, release fades for me. 

“Still wanna fuck me from behind?” she asks and my cock swells and twitches inside her in response. She laughs and lifts her head to kiss me, swivels her hips once and then stands. Her hands tug at my jeans and I’m actually able to help this time.

I whisper to her about how sexy she’s looked all night and how much restraint I had to use to not tell all the neighborhood kids to fuck off then pound her until we were both limp and useless.

She tosses the jeans and my shorts aside then stands in front of me, between my knees. Bends over and kisses me. Her fingers pluck open each button of my shirt until it hangs open. 

“Talk later. Right now, there’s something I want to do.”

“Okay. You’re in charge,” I agree as her hands skim down my chest, pushing back slightly so I’m reclined back on the couch, my ass right at the edge of the cushion. Her lips follow her hands and I let my eyes slide shut and my head to fall back as I revel in the sensations. The way she makes me feel desired and cherished with just a simple touch.

I’m about to ask her if maybe we should put a blanket on the cushions before we get into things when her tongue flicks the head of my cock. My legs spasm and she pushes them wider.

“Let me,” she says. I think to remind her that my dick is covered with her juices right now but my words are stolen by a shocked moan as she takes the tip and sucks it with force, pulling up on the entire crown. I try to sit up and grab her, but she pushes me back down and plants my hands on either side of me. “Hands here.”

“Fuck, Katniss, I don’t know if I can--” but once again, my words get cut off by a very unmanly whine. The noise only encourages her to keep on flicking her tongue all over me. Fluttering and then licking up the shaft. I watch, mesmerized and caught up in pleasure as she swirls her tongue around the head. Grips the base and squeezes, making me moan and powerless to do anything but let her cup her lips around the side and drag her mouth up and down. Up and down with her tongue scraping over my skin between her lips.

Then she takes the entire thing in her mouth. Curse words and moans stutter out of my lips as she bobs her head, working her hand with her mouth sealed tight to her fist. Katniss sets her hands wide on the couch and then--- 

“Fuuuuuuck,” I moan and one leg spasms as I fight against coming right then. My balls are starting to tighten as she fucking deepthroats me. My hands caress over her arms, tempted to throw her on the floor and end the foreplay because I’m gonna come real soon if she keeps this up and I want to lose myself inside her tonight, not her mouth.

Loose waves of her hair fall in the way and stick to me. She flinches as some get caught in her mouth and I risk reprimand to gather it in my hands and hold it to the back of her head. She keeps going without a word and then it’s a fight to keep my clenching fingers from digging into her scalp and pushing down on her head to make her go faster.

“Katniss,” I plead and she lifts her head, my cock swaying away from her mouth with a pop, my hands still in her hair as she smiles up at me.

“Feel good?” I make some kind of strange, choked laughing noise.

“You better decide what you want next real fast,” I warn her and she wipes her mouth with the heel of her palm and shimmies the rest of the way out of her dress and panties. “How did you taste on me?”

She wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. “I like just you better.”

I smile as she turns her back to me and caress her ass cheeks as she forces my knees together and straddles them.

“That’s okay. I fucking _ love  _ the way you taste.” She grips my cock and teases her lips with the head before sinking down on me again. “Wait.”

She glances back at me and I can’t help the sheepish look on my face. 

“Condoms are upstairs,” I remind her. We’ve been careful about her pills but we keep slipping up on using the condoms. Her pussy feels so amazing on my bare cock and sometimes we’re just so frantic for each other or in such a hurry, that the extra step of protection gets lost. Not that I wouldn’t love to have another kid, especially with Katniss, but it needs to be the right time for all of us.

She sighs and then rocks back on me. My fingers dig into her ass cheeks and I bite my lip as warmth spreads through my body.

“Then don’t come.”

“Oh sure,” I say with a laugh but when I manage to meet her eyes again, she’s not laughing. “You’re serious.”

“Don’t. Come. Yet. Peeta,” she punctuates each word with a harsh rock of her hips. I pry my hands off of her and swallow.

“I can try.”

Katniss bites her lip and then leans forward, bracing her hands on the coffee table as she rocks and then bounces on my cock. I grip the back of the couch and try to hold onto my sanity and my cum.

“Oh I love riding your cock,” she groans and my eyes practically bulge at the dirty words. Not that Katniss doesn’t talk dirty. It’s just not a regular thing. “Been thinking about this all day. Fuck yeah,  _ that’s  _ the spot.”

I’m biting my lip hard enough to draw blood, my eyes glued to her ass and her back as she arches and rolls, a sinuous wave over me. Her skin jostles with each hard bounce. I watch the way my dick disappears inside her over and over, glistening with her pussy juices. The sights and the feelings nearly have me tearing the cushion behind me right off the couch as I refrain from doing what I want.

She whips her head around to look back at me, a dark smoulder in her eyes as she takes in my slack jawed, dumbfounded expression. One eyebrow rises up her forehead and the cat ears wobble with a hard thrust down that smacks our skin together and almost breaks my control.

“Like the view, Peeta?”

“Fuck, yes,” I pant and she smiles.

“Give me your hand.” She reaches back and grasps my offered hand. “Now stand up.”

I shift my feet and surge up off the couch, pushing her forward so she’s bent over in front of me, hands braced once more on the coffee table.

“Make me come, Peeta,” she demands and rocks back into me. Taking my chance, I lean forward, laying myself on her back.

“You feel good against my skin,” I whisper in her ear as I let my hands roam over her body and she tries to keep fucking herself on my cock. “So soft and warm.”

I grab hold of her hip with one hand and the other dips between her legs, seeking out her clit. I find it then keep going, down to her lips as she reaches one hand back to tangle in my hair.

“Please, Peeta. Pound me already.”

“In a second,” I say and kiss her bare shoulder as I swirl my fingers through her lips, getting them sticky and wet with her. She shivers and so do I when I accidentally graze my own dick. I figure that’s my sign to keep going and use my wet fingers to rub her clit as I start thrusting. Slow, shallow motions to get her closer first. Build her up.

I focus on her sounds and how hard she pulls on my hair. The force of her hips as she rocks back to meet mine. I let my lips caress over her shoulder, up her neck to her ear as I inhale the scent of her shampoo and her skin, whisper whatever words I can think of to tell her how much I love her. How much I want her, all the time. Whether it’s this or just curled up in each other’s arms.

Her entire body spasms in my hold and her hand yanks hard enough on my hair to actually cut through the pleasure and hurt.

“Fuck! I need to come now, Peeta,” she whines and her thighs quake against mine. I move my hips faster, slowly gaining speed. Each thrust pulls a pained squeal from her throat and then her back arches and she sings to the ceiling. Her walls flutter and her pussy gushes on my cock. So much warmth and wet that I snap. 

A slapping noise mingles with her cries and my hands fill with warm, round flesh. Our hips slam together and the cold-to-warm then back shift on my cock as I thrust in and out of her blurs into one haze of need. My balls smack into the backs of her thighs. I vaguely hear her calling my name as a buzzing fills my brain.

“Gonna come,” I groan and she pushes me off her. I fall back on the couch and tug down on my sac. Hard. Enough to hurt myself and stop my own orgasm. Katniss’ ass is in the air in front of me, her head resting on the coffee table as she grabs at her own hair and mumbles. My eyes are irrevocably drawn to her pussy lips, on display in front of me, glistening and quivering, still caught in release.

“Oh god, oh god, Peeta,” she moans and shakes her head.

No longer in danger, I sit forward and run my hands up her thighs. She shivers and moans but lets me spread her cheeks and suck her wet lips into mine. Her hand slams on the table as I work my tongue in and out of her. It only takes a few good swipes and she’s quaking with another orgasm or maybe a continuation of the first one. Either way, her thighs shake violently and I smile with satisfaction as I keep licking until one of her hands tries to smack me away. I sit back to watch her shaking through her aftershocks, lazily stroking myself.

“I could look at you like this all day, Katniss. Fucked and sucked and satisfied. Your ass up in the air, begging to be grabbed. And your legs --” I groan as my eyes sweep over the backs of her legs in those damn black stockings laced up with tantalizing purple satin ribbons. My hips lift off the couch on their own to shove my cock through my fist and I suck air through my teeth. “Those fucking legs drive me wild. That’s why those stockings make me hard for you every damn time. You’re stunning.”

She manages to look back at me, her cat ears askew and her face flushed, eyes droopy and hazed over with satisfaction.

“Upstairs. Condom. Now,” she says, and I don’t need to be told twice.

I shed my shirt as I stand and scoop her up into my arms. She’s limp against my chest as I carry her up the stairs and toss her on the bed. Her cat ears fly off and she fondles her own breasts as I roll on a condom and jerk myself a few times before standing at the end of the bed and yanking her towards me.

“This is probably gonna be fast and hard,” I warn her as I lift her legs and set her feet on my shoulders.

“Do it,” she says and stretches her hands over her head, bracing them on the sheets. “Fuck me, Peeta.”

I line myself up and she arches her back to take me deeper. When my hips meet her ass, I turn my head to kiss her ankle through the stockings. The yarn they’re made of is soft and the satin ribbons tickle my chest. Grasping her hips, I pull back slow then slide back in. My entire body shudders in relief and Katniss sighs.

“Can you come again?” I ask as I set a steady pace. She shakes her head and licks her lips. 

“I don’t think so.” Then she smiles and reaches one hand down to squeeze my hand. She knows what I’m thinking. I don’t like coming without her when we’re joined. It makes me feel selfish, even though I know she’s already had more than one orgasm tonight. “Let go, Peeta. I want  _ you _ to come now.”

I try to go slow, but somewhere I lose my mind and wind up thrusting at a mad pace, Katniss watches me with parted lips and hazy eyes, murmuring that she loves me.

The world is streaked with lightning and heat and the sounds of our bodies colliding again and again. I can’t hold back anymore anyways. Not the series of moans or the pulsing of my dick. My eyes roll back and I hug her legs to me as shocks race down my limbs and I empty myself into the condom.

I manage two more spastic thrusts and then Katniss spreads her legs and I fall forward into her embrace.

My breathing in her ear is probably annoyingly loud, but she strokes my back and my hair and holds me to her with both arms and legs.

“I love you. And I love those stockings. Sure you won’t tell me where you get them?” She chuckles beneath me and the effect it has on my sensitive cock is close to euphoric. I shudder and she holds me closer. We should probably clean up, but I can’t move for awhile. When I do, Katniss reaches up and something squeezes my skull.

“Did you just put the cat ears on me?”

“Wanted to see what you found so sexy about them.”

I bend down and lick her throat.

“Ugh! Stop!” She squeals with laughter and squirms beneath me. “They’re cat ears not dog ears!”

I lift my head and she snatches them off me as I grin. Then she smiles too.

“There’s some leftover candy downstairs. I think I saw some Twizzlers.”

We hurry through a shower, both of us a little unsteady on our legs and before she turns the water off, I pull her to me and hold her tight. She relaxes into the embrace and I kiss her neck once. 

“This is the only treat I want tonight,” I tell her. “Just being with you.”


End file.
